


Don't

by MaiKusakabe



Series: Life as a Whitebeard Pirate [9]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Gen, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-26 15:45:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3856168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaiKusakabe/pseuds/MaiKusakabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was raining. Why was it raining today? It hadn't rained in months.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't

**Author's Note:**

> Another story for this series :)
> 
> Beta-read by Aerle :)

It was raining. Why was it raining today? It hadn't rained in months.

That was the thought that crossed Izo's suddenly blank mind. And then...

"Bring a doctor!" he hollered, his order immediately repeated by the guys on watch duty who couldn't see what he was seeing.

Izo didn't wait to hear the voices of his still awake brothers carrying his command across the ship, neither did he notice lights being turned on through the small windows.

He ran to the figure sprawled on the floorboards, white shirt painted a sickly combination of red and pink hues as the blood oozed from around the knife still buried deep into the back, the liquid being drained faster than it should by the unforgiving rain.

"... Thatch..." Izo dropped to his knees, placing a trembling hand on the man's arm. He couldn't touch anywhere else for fear of worsening the wound. He couldn't turn the man around, and he couldn't pull the knife out because that would accelerate the bleeding.

Thatch gasped, and in what had to be a painfully extenuating movement, turned his head to look at Izo.

The kneeling man clenched his free hand into a fist so tight his nails drew blood from his palm. Thatch's eyes were dim, so dim Izo knew the doctors wouldn’t be able do anything for him. No one could. He had seen that look too many times to mistake it for anything else.

He refused to believe it.

"W-What happened?" he asked, and his voice caught at the end of the sentence.

"Teach..." Thatch breathed out. "Wanted the fruit..."

Izo's body tensed, and he squeezed the arm under his palm.

"We'll catch him," he swore, and at that moment the only thing he wanted more than to rip that traitor to pieces was for Thatch to recover.

"... Good."

Izo heard the distant noises of feet running.

"Hold on, help's on the way."

Thatch chuckled weakly. It sounded more like a choked cough.

"...Are you... crying?"

Izo didn't know how the man could tell, as the thick rain fell down his face swallowing any tear before it could be noticed on his face, but he didn't hesitate.

"Yes."

A weaker, almost inaudible chuckle came from Thatch's lips.

"Don't... It doesn't fit y-you..."

When the first crewmembers arrived, they found Izo, his shoulders trembling, bent over Thatch's prone body, his face bloodied as he tried to hold him close and the rain no longer pouring down to erase any evidence of the night.


End file.
